14:48 – MatsExtrude
👍
Even though there are still too few F-16s to make a difference, it is symbolic and psychologically important.
Eventually, they are in place (despite many initially saying it is impossible) and now yet another red line has been crossed (but keep the sunscreen on for a while longer just in case).
Now we basically have only two red lines left. That Ukraine should be allowed to strike freely deep inside and that the West goes in and helps directly.
Hope it calms down so you don’t have to hide in Poland.
19:20 – Johan No.1
Djalali and his wife at least think so, and Amnesty 😀
You could at least google before you have to write something sour.
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/fangslade-svenska-forskarens-fru-diskriminering
If you have other information that contradicts Djalali and his wife, and Amnesty, please post it so we can discuss further.
08:52 – Johan No.1
I have a theory that Dengamles’ songs are a code to convey information between Budanov and the security services in the West with information that is too sensitive to be shared in any other way.
The choice of song, capital letters, and sentence structure suggest something like that.
10:15 – MatsExtrude
😂
13:11 – Johan No.1
F-16 is now confirmed to have flown in Ukraine. One must assume these are combat missions. There appear to be 6 in this first delivery.
Ukraine now has all capabilities, but they probably don’t have enough F-16s yet for it to make a difference, maybe, but if it goes like before, the tap is open now and more will come over time since the decision has been made.
Now, standing here smeared with sunscreen and waiting for the next instruction from MXT, one has had time to reflect on how this must feel for Putin—not good, is my guess, somewhat like the feeling of being covered in a thick layer of SPF 50 from head to toe.
Russia knows very well that the FAB bombs are their last strong card and that they have now targeted the first scout at the forest edge, so the cavalry is not far behind.
All Shaheds were shot down yesterday in a larger operation, so maybe the F-16s were tested in combat against them?
Today is month-end closing and record numbers as usual; we have actually started to be spoiled by these constant record profits.
Today is also the start of protests down here, so now we sit with a kitchen full of dry goods and water, a loaded gas stove, large buckets full of water in the showers in the empty rooms, and a driver who gets to take the car home and check on the family in exchange for sleeping in the guesthouse. All other staff both in the guesthouse and on the project are home because they have their own families to take care of – I made an executive decision. Also a risk of power outages, so the computers will serve as power banks with chargers plugged in. In case of power outages, we have agreed on phone times and the family has local phone numbers to call. They are already experimenting with the internet to throttle the flow of information. We have also signed up on the embassy’s list and then cut out a grille for the upstairs window so we can retreat to the roof if needed. I don’t know what this rates on the prepper scale, but we have done what we could 😀
Back to the losses,
Artillery losses are the highest ever in a single month in 2.5 years of war with 1,520 pieces knocked out. These are astronomical numbers considering they had 900 M46s total in stockpiles they had started to tamper with.
Specials are 3 units from the highest, and soft vehicles are the highest number ever.
Killed barbarians are the second highest ever with 35,680, an astonishingly high figure.
Now to something unpleasant: North Korea has sent Bulsae-4 to Ukraine, with or without a crew we do not know.
It is an AT anti-tank guided missile and relatively modern but a worthless weapon and a big target.
If we disregard all this, China now has the ability to send armored vehicles to Russia as that is now unlocked.
The West has yawned and fallen asleep.
Then come North Korean tanks, and after that, China sends tanks, with or without crews.
Just as we in the West have engaged in an escalation ladder, China does so through North Korea.
Now I want to know how this is not escalating from Russia’s side but that defensive weapons to defend one’s own country are for Ukraine – the USA has not been entirely clear on that point, actually.
Interesting though that Russia asked for PV weapons from North Korea, not something one thought they would lack, and above all, everyone who knows something believes Ukraine has no armor left, so what they need these for, those will have to explain then.
Rogue states actually thrive best when they are like North Korea or Zimbabwe – population in an iron grip, a fabricated external threat, and all power to the divine leader or else you die torn to pieces by hyenas or executed by a 23mm anti-aircraft cannon (not made up, by the way).
When it becomes active interstate war, they are seriously on thin ice, they know that, but there always comes a point where they have no choice.
Countries like Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, North Korea, and a few others all have the potential to fall in the future, and Russia does too, even though they have shown surprisingly strong resistance to democratic ideas and a life in freedom.
Russian citizens seem enormously well-marinated in this empire thinking now, but take Iran for example, the citizens are tired of this, and likewise in Belarus.
The Chinese are an interesting group because they can absolutely explode, and then it is not at all fun to be an elected official in that country.
Wagner has now been sent to Venezuela, so the current world order is definitely a bit in dissolution even though the USA does everything not to escalate. Take a look at the map and then think about the Cuban Missile Crisis and that the USA is definitely a different country today.
It will actually be interesting to see the truth when it eventually emerges about Gripen, I just want to post the information below for the archive without adding any opinions at all.
Quote Omni 2024-05-27:
“Sweden has been asked to pause plans to send Gripen aircraft to Ukraine, says Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M) to TT.
The reason is that Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway have promised to send F-16 planes and therefore Gripen must wait.
– We have been urged by the other countries driving the coalition to hold off with the Gripen system, Jonson tells the news agency.
The Defense Minister does not rule out that it may become relevant to send Gripen planes to Ukraine in the future.
– But right now the focus on the Ukrainian side is on implementing the F-16 program.”
May 2023 Ukrainian pilots were to train on Gripen (orientation training is what is stated).
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/ukrainska-piloter-ska-ova-pa-jas-gripen
September 21, 2023, they have “been trained on JAS in Sweden”
https://omni.se/forsvarsministern-bekraftar-ukrainska-piloter-har-utbildats-pa-jas-i-sverige/a/BWX1Me
Experts say 6 months of training according to DN
https://www.dn.se/sverige/sa-snabbt-kan-ukraina-satta-in-gripen-mot-ryssland/
Now maybe SAAB is a bit biased but they write this.
“On average it takes between 4-6 months to train a pilot to use the Gripen JAS39 fighter in the techniques for a limited mission set such as air-to-air and beyond-visual-range,” he told Defense News at the airshow.
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2024/02/22/saab-waits-out-political-drama-over-sending-gripen-fighters-to-ukraine/
Combat pilot training
The Armed Forces’ pilot training at the Swedish Defence University and the Military Academy Karlberg.
Basic flight training at the Flight School in Linköping.
After officer graduation, you continue your training as an employee with basic tactical training (GTU).
Then you undergo type conversion training on the JAS 39 Gripen at Skaraborg Air Wing (F 7) in Såtenäs, which lasts 6 months.
After that, you are assigned to a unit at the wing.
https://jobb.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/utbildning/befattningsguiden/officers-befattningar/stridspilot/
Fleet exercise in the Baltic Sea is exciting to say the least as two Ropuchas have been moved there from the Northern Fleet. I have Åland and the islands off Estonia as high risk. Gotland is presumably fortified today.
We can probably assume that our own navy and air force together with all neighbors are on a readiness level that matches the threat.
Someone in the thread posted this, so full credit to this genius.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/07/30/russia-begins-major-naval-exercises-with-most-of-its-fleet-a85870
Lots of internet cables cut in France in addition to sabotage against the railway and caused power outages – the Russians are really long-suffering over Macron’s tough stance in January. My thought that this is why the West is cautious is not entirely unreasonable. Putin threatens to throw countries into chaos and topple governments, and murder?
Macron just managed to save politics, but the wave of sabotage is definitely enormous right now.
https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/1818173489464963209?s=46&t=Vah3JXV31B9lXwZOK5gF7w
I have had a thought that the West’s dark secret is that politicians are simply afraid of P..demonstrations (you know what I mean), opposition parties, sabotage, influence operations, and murder. People are somewhat reluctant to cross Russia not because they will invade us but because of all their subversive activities. A bit like being afraid of a criminal clan that has taken over an area, no one talks about it but everyone knows that if you cross the clan you’re done, so your children have a rule to follow: never fight with the clan’s children.
If we set aside the USA for once, the EU should try to do what is best for the EU, which includes Ukraine winning the war and regaining the 1991 borders, Belarus having its popular revolution, and Kaliningrad being demilitarized.
This is about our eastern border, not the USA’s, and then we get a manageable border with Russia for all time. Belarus has about 10 million inhabitants and Kaliningrad is vanishingly small.
It would also be good for the EU if Russia were split into smaller countries so a future threat becomes smaller. It happened in 1989 and should be possible again.
All of this is also good for Ukraine.
China is primarily a threat to the USA as they challenge the USA for the top spot, but I wonder if they will be much of a threat to the EU going forward – I don’t know, so I raise the question a bit to provoke.
The EU is free to be a more attractive alternative than China to the world’s countries. Africa is not doing very well under China and Russia, and we could, for example, give them fair trade agreements for real this time.
The EU is also free to produce better goods cheaper than China so we outsell them.
China’s geographical position is precarious to say the least; they have Russia and India as neighbors and then water all around, which makes supply routes vulnerable.
They will try to open military bases and ports, but if the supply routes are cut, they will have exactly the same problems Japan had in WW2.
Maybe it’s time for the EU to do what is best for the EU and let China take the top spot from the USA?
Now the reaction to reading the above sentence was probably that your computer got sprayed with coffee and you had a mild stroke, but I am trying to show what the USA is doing here.
Trying to maintain a strong Russia is not good for the EU in any way.
My highly personal opinion is that the EU has managed to mix up all sorts of things right now and is struggling with its identity, and in that process, it gives a walkover to China and Russia. I am also personally convinced that much of what we struggle with has Russia as the sender.
Now there is a risk that this is a rumor, but it is said that Russia managed to fuel protests in Southport by directly spreading disinformation.
The USA has also drawn its claws – the Cuban Missile Crisis towards 2024 when China has a base in Cuba and Russia takes over Venezuela.
Africa is so enormously rich in natural resources that it is almost ridiculous; Angola, which I always talk about, is one of the richest countries in the world – rare earth metals, gold, diamonds, copper, gemstones, mercury, cobalt, and lots of other things over almost the entire country’s surface. Buy 50 hectares of land and the chance that you have a future deposit is sky-high.
Right now, it is mostly Chinese companies on site and the Swedish embassy closed (again). When it was aid, Sweden had 600 aid workers in the country and poured in money – now that it is business, they close the embassy.
In just that country, the EU could sign fair trade agreements for raw materials and they could build up the country and sell many products from the EU. The EU could establish mining companies that work locally in a fair way and the exchange would be a win-win for the EU and Angola.
Probably there are 30 more countries in Africa where the same concept would work.
But they don’t do that, they let China and Russia take over.
And then they talk about bringing home all manufacturing, but all countries in Africa will then only sell their raw materials to China, so what are we going to produce with?
Here someone has looked at the number of given green cards and sees that a number of agencies have received a completely disproportionate amount – rigged and cheating thus if anyone did not believe that one can cheat in the USA.
https://x.com/ericfan_journo/status/1818757757438513347?s=46&t=Vah3JXV31B9lXwZOK5gF7w
Iran warns Qatar and Saudi not to let I..el flights pass through their airspace.
https://bsky.app/profile/johanno1.bsky.social/post/3kynoahi7fh2z
SOF Zenezh has once again been killed at the northern front. This is the best the Russians have, the top.
https://x.com/albafella1/status/1818385354153726261
I think Russia is making a mistake here because they are forcibly recruiting people who are not at all enthusiastic about Russia and giving them a weapon. The probability of revolution must increase when the army increasingly consists of ethnic groups that would gladly free themselves from the shackles of colonization.
https://x.com/jayinkyiv/status/1818597692324315640?s=46&t=Vah3JXV31B9lXwZOK5gF7w
Good day with F-16s and that they haven’t burned down the city here yet before lunch 👍